


Repent and Repeat

by betterTomorrows



Series: EllieDina Week March2021 [5]
Category: The Last of Us (Video Games)
Genre: Canon Compliant, ELLIEDINA WEEK, Established Relationship, F/F, Fluff and Angst, Past Relationship(s), Post-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-07
Updated: 2021-03-07
Packaged: 2021-03-12 21:41:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,423
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29890953
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/betterTomorrows/pseuds/betterTomorrows
Summary: One afternoon, while Dina is nose-deep in a new book and JJ snoozes on the couch for a nap, Ellie is left to contemplate her past once again.“Sometimes I can’t believe you still want me even after everything I’ve done. Even after I hurt you.”----EllieDina Week: Day 6 - Prompt: Redemption
Relationships: Cat/Ellie (The Last of Us), Dina/Ellie (The Last of Us)
Series: EllieDina Week March2021 [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2189691
Kudos: 36





	Repent and Repeat

**Author's Note:**

> Here's another floofy fluff for everyone.  
> I've never written so much fluff in my life, and I gotta admit I'm having fun doing this!
> 
> (title from Mayday Parade song of the same name)
> 
> No edits, so apologies mistakes and typos here and there.

“Cat! Wait, can we at least talk about this some more?”

Ellie had found Cat in her little apartment after coming back from Dina’s. Her presence shouldn’t have been cause for any concern, but the disappointment in her girlfriend’s eyes is what frightened her.

It’s too late, of course, when Ellie realizes that she’d forgotten their date. They had plans to spend the evening together after they were both done with their shifts at work. They were going to make dinner together, have a quiet night in to watch the new movie Cat found during her patrol shift.

Without knowing how else to fix things, Ellie tightly presses her back against the door to block Cat from leaving.

“I can make it up to you. I’ll do anything, I swear,” Ellie pleads, “you can’t just break up with me for forgetting our plans for the first time.”

Cat just shakes her head. She doesn’t even look the least bit furious with everything at all. In fact, her whole demeanor is a little too calm for Ellie’s liking.

“It’s not the first time, Ellie.” Cat sighs, she looks tired and Ellie is desperate to find a solution to this.

Truth be told, Ellie would rather be faced with an explosive reaction than to deal with the quietude that Cat was displaying. Ellie knows how to deal with anger, it’s the first emotion that they were taught to handle at a young age, after all. Living in a world where survival was at the foremost of everyone’s priority, anger becomes an evident part of everyday life.

Except that the scene Ellie finds herself in is disconcerting. Cat is too composed, and it makes Ellie wonder just how long and how many times she’d unknowingly brushed her girlfriend aside.

“I didn’t know,” Ellie slides down to the floor feeling rudderless under the weight of all the emotions that flood her.

“I know,” Cat responds and sits next to her by the door.

“For what it’s worth, I’m sorry for being a shit girlfriend,” she tries to laugh it off, but it comes out more choked than she’d hoped.

“Don’t sell yourself short, El. You had your moments.”

Cat reaches for her hand, and Ellie lets the touch comfort her. For a second, she lets herself hope that she can still fix things.

“Are you sure you can’t give me a second chance? I can be better. I’ll try harder,” Ellie tries.

Cat shakes her head like she did before and Ellie understands that her mind is unchanged, “I want to be more than just a placeholder, El.”

Ellie doesn’t understand what Cat means by being a _“placeholder”_ and there are so many questions that she wants to ask her, but none of them come out.

“It may not have worked out for us, but I know you’ll be perfect for someone else in the future,” Cat tells her with so much certainty, like she knows something that Ellie doesn’t.

She spends the rest of that night alone and reflective. Cat’s words float around wherever she goes and leaves her feeling all the more confused.

**

It’s years later when she finally understands what Cat had meant the night they broke up.

Ellie and Dina’s friendship evolves to one with romance, or maybe it was always that way, but neither of them were perceptive enough to realize it.

Thinking back on it, she realizes that Cat must have had suspicions about the depth of her relationship with Dina. It amazes Ellie, that Cat was perhaps one of the first to recognize that she and Dina shared something beyond the walls of friendship. Especially at a time way before either of them understood their own feelings toward each other.

Ellie doesn’t want a repeat of the disaster that was her relationship with Cat. Sure, they were both much younger at the time. And sure, she was highly likely in love with someone else—but the last thing Ellie wants is to make the same mistake she did before.

She doesn’t ever want to make Dina feel forgotten and left aside.

So, she tries her hardest to be thoughtful, she’s a little more considerate, and she even starts keeping a calendar to never forget important dates.

Most of all, Ellie makes sure Dina knows how much she loves her.

**

A few more years pass, and Dina proposes to Ellie in bed on a lazy Sunday morning. Their sheets hang loosely off the bed, and their legs are tangled around each other’s bodies.

Ellie always thought she’d be the first to ask, but she isn’t surprised when Dina beats her to it.

She immediately wants to say yes, but a thought breaks her impulses, “are you sure you want to marry _me_?”

Dina props herself up on an elbow, and Ellie melts under the hopeful gaze of her lover’s eyes. They scream of unspoken promises, and endless devotion.

“You’re the only one I want to spend the rest of my life with, so, yes. I’m sure.”

It’s enough assurance for Ellie, and she confesses that she has been hiding a ring at Maria’s house waiting for the right moment to ask.   
  
And just like that, they were engaged.

**

They don’t wait long to get married after proposing to each other. It comes as no surprise to others that they’re both eager to get the ceremony done as soon as possible. Ellie knows that marriage doesn’t change them whatsoever, it’s just an official piece of paper that legally binds two people to each other. Which doesn’t make sense in their world because there are technically no laws to abide to, no governments to sustain, and certainly no papers needed to prove one’s connection for another.

The reason Ellie wants to do it so soon is because she wants to world to know that Dina has chosen her—no, she has _honored_ Ellie with the role of her lifelong partner.

One afternoon, while Dina is nose-deep in a new book and JJ snoozes on the couch for a nap, Ellie is left to contemplate her past once again.

“Sometimes I can’t believe you still want me even after everything I’ve done. Even after I hurt you.”

Dina looks up from her book and eyes her wife carefully.

“Don’t get me wrong,” Ellie continues, “I know you love me and I’m way past the point of ever questioning that. But—” she hesitates, not willing to say anything to upsetting.

“But the feeling always lingers even if you try not to think about it anyway?” Dina offers her.

“Yeah. It still shocks me, sometimes, that I’d ever end up with someone as amazing as you.”

Dina marks her place in the book to put it down. She wiggles her eyebrows up at Ellie, “are you seducing me, babe? ‘Cause I’m totally loving this whole compliment-your-wife moment.”

Ellie grins but she maintains her train of thought, “I’m trying to be serious here!”

“Okay, I’m all ears.”

“I keep thinking back to something Cat said to me a long time ago.”

“Sheesh, way to ruin the mood by mentioning your ex, babe.”

Ellie throws a pillow toward Dina, who easily dodges the attack with a mock offense on her face.

“As I was saying,” Ellie huffs, “I was such a bad girlfriend back then that I started thinking I would never be good enough for someone else. But then she’s breaking up with me because of it and Cat’s trying to make me feel better by saying how I’d one day be perfect for someone else. And sometimes I wonder if I’m doing a good enough of a job for you.”

Ellie’s breaths come out ragged, and she’s not sure when she started feeling so nervous around Dina.

“First of all, you’re my _wife_ now, so I’d say you must have done something good to get promoted,” Dina cups Ellie’s cheek and pulls her down to kiss her on the top of the head. “So, it’s easy for me to say that you’re perfect, even when you think you’re not. Even after everything that’s happened between us. I think we’ve done enough good in our lives now that we’ve already made up for all the shit we did when we were younger.”

“We really were such little shits, weren’t we,” Ellie smiles, relaxing in Dina’s arms.

“You more so than me,” Dina sticks her tongue out spurring Ellie to poke her in the belly, “but you’re my favorite idiot and I’m lucky to have you with me.”

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! Let me know if you like it. Stay safe!


End file.
